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Were there any laws in Ancient Egypt?

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Were there any laws in Ancient Egypt?

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  1. Civilizations cannot exist without some kind of laws or rules.


  2. Yes, there were laws in ancient Egypt. However, there is nothing written that has survived, so anything we "know" about the law then is speculation, based upon what we can find of court and other documents that make mention of law.

    For the most part, law was based on common sense view of right and wrong, following codes based on Ma'at.

    The following website gives a pretty good overview of what Egyptian law was.

    http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/...

  3. Yes almost always you were killed if you broke them.

  4. Yes, there were laws in ancient Egypt. No society could survive without them.  In The British MUsuem Dictionary of Ancient Egypt it says:

    'Egyptian law, like the codes of Ethics was essentially based on the concept of Maat ("decorum" or "correctness"), in other words the common-sense view of right and wrong as defined by the social norms of the day.  Since the pharoah was a living god, ruling by divine right, it was clearly he who was the supreme judge and law-giver.  However, as with his priestly duties, it was often found necessary to delegate his authority.

    The principles of the Pharonic legal systme are thought to have been codified to some extent, but no such documents have survived.  There are, however, a number of funerary texts outlining the duties of such high officials as the Vizier, which can shed some light on the legal practices.  In theory, anyone with a grievance could take a case to the vizier, though actually gaining an audience would no doubt often have been difficult.  

    Definitions of official roles probably existed for all important offices, thus allocting them places in the overall administrative hierarchy.  The title "overseer of the six great mansions" seems to have been held by the ancient equivalent of a "magistrate" and the term "mansions" probably referred to the main law court in Thebes.  The cases that they examined would be reported to the Pharoah, who may have been responsible for deciding the punishment in the most serious cases.

    Verdicts and punishments were probably based loosely on precedent with variations being introduced where appropriate.  Since the records of cases wee archived at the temple or vizierate offices, references to past cases were no doubt usually possible.  It was thanks to this practice of automatically archiving such documents that the famous trila of tomb-robbers was preserved.  Unfortunately, the papyrus does not record the sentences of the accused.  It seems, however, that Egyptian law issued similar punishments to all those who had committed similar offences, irrespective of variations in wealth or status.  Judgements and decisions were evidently recorded by official scribes.

    In cases where individuals were sentenced to exile, their children were automatically exiled with them.  Similarly, families could suffer imprisonment if a relative deserted from military service, or defaulted on the corvee labour demanded by the state.  Papyrus from the 13th Dynasty (1750-1650 BC) record the punishment duties imposed on labour defaulters.

    Minor cases were tried by councils of elders, each town having its own local kenbet in charge of the judiciary.  For exapmle a number of cases survive from the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) in the fomr of the records of the workmen at Deir-el-Medina, msotly dealing with small matters such as non-repayment of loans.  

    Cases were sometimes judged by divine oracles rather than by human magistrates.  It is known from Deir-el-Medina, for instance, that the deified founder of the village, Amenhotep I was often asked to decide on particular cases.  It is unclear how this divine judgement was actually given, but it seems that ostraca for and against the accused would be put at each side of the street and the god's image would incline towards whichever verdict was deemed appropriate.

  5. Lots.  Everything, for evereybody, was regulated.  The head of State (Pharoh) was also the head of the state religion.  The vast bulk of the population were, essentially, his slaves.  They were required to work on their plots -- which they did not own --  to grow food, a large percentage of which was taken as "tax."  They also had to work on irrigation projects to keep water going from the Nile to the fields.  And, of course, they would be conscripted to work on massive construction projects.  Every person had his or her prescribed place and prescribed duties.  If you got out of line, you were disobeying Pharoh and committing an offense against the gods.

  6. Oh yeah.  Plenty

  7. Absolutely - and the penalties were far worse than the slap on the wrist you get in today's society. There was no legal aid, either. You were accused, you faced the judge and took whatever punishment was meted out - whether you were innocent or not. It wasn't a great or a kindly system, but it did keep the population under control. They were big on whips back then....

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